


A Cartoon of Betrayal and Strife

by jedilordrevan



Category: Cartoon Network, Codename: Kids Next Door, Dexter's Laboratory, Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Hanna Barbera, Looney Tunes, Powerpuff Girls, Scooby Doo - All Media Types, Wacky Races
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternative Universe - Looney Tunes, Cartoon Network - Freeform, Conflict, Massive Fantasy Crossover, Monsters, hanna barbera - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:00:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28510818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedilordrevan/pseuds/jedilordrevan
Summary: In the world of Hannos Barberos, many kingdoms live in peace... or at least they appear to. In truth, every king and queen is constantly scheming and fighting for dominance. With one hand they extend a olive branch, while the other hides a knife. Everyone is fighting for survival; Always aware that no one stays on top for long. There is blood on the crown... go and take it.





	1. Chapter 1: Light Chases Faster

**A Cartoon of  
Betrayal and Strife   
** **M.C. Deltat**

**Chapter 1: Light Chases Faster**

Despite the rapidly shrinking castle in the distance, Fred directed his horses, Mystery and Machine, to quicken their pace. The secrets his team had discovered in that accursed place only served to scare him. It was his duty to share, and to warn, the others what he had learned. However, despite Fred’s resolve, his hands gripped tightly upon the reins; He made every effort to encourage his horses to hurry into the outlying forest. It proved a challenge to force the bulky carriage, along with its five occupants, through the gnarled twisted trees and underbrush overgrowth on the dirt road. Indeed, even the weather itself, a cold and heavy rain, seemed to resist every effort of speed and stealth. If it were any other day, Fred would have been annoyed. Now, he was simply terrified. It would not be long until the Professor learned what had been done, what had been taken. And with that, other terrors come.

If nothing else, Fred did somewhat appreciate the rain. It, along with the denseness of the forest, would help his team evade whatever pursuers were sent after him – He hoped. The fact of the matter was that they had a long way to go, and not much time to do it in. Still, with the road quiet for the time being, Fred decided to turn his attention to his team in the back of the carriage. As he gazed towards them, he could instantly sense the air of despair about them. Although, Fred was pretty sure the atmosphere was not out of fear, but of shame. The implication of mission failure, the group’s first, had likely infected the mind of all his compatriots. In truth, he couldn’t consider himself above them either; he had the same thoughts floating around in his head. Every single one of them had been in that castle and they had all seen what would be sent after them. It would be a challenge to get away - all things considered.

Fred frowned. He shook his head and refocused. He banished the negative thoughts into a deep dark hole, and then gazed upon each of his companions in turn. The first was Velma, his chief strategist and second in command. She was currently fiddling with the fletching on her arrows; no doubt trying to mentally calculate the most effective route to take. Her normally neat armor was full of creases and folds; no doubt caused by their rushed escape. Daphne, his master sorceress, was busy playing with the brim of her overly large red cap; staff forgotten at her side. And lastly, the entwined pair: The Ranger Shaggy and his mount Scooby. Both were busy trying to calm the other down. In the past that played out in eating, and it remains true now. Fred sighed after looking at his crew. He was the leader. It is his job to present a strong face to guide the others forward. The first step to defeat was the acknowledgement of its possibility. Considering a plan B means accepting that your plan A has failed.

“Okay then” Fred muttered. He loudly clapped his hands, shocking the rest of the group. “ALL RIGHT GANG…” He began.

“FRED” Velma hissed. “QUIET!” She put her arrows back into her quiver. “In case you forgot, we are trying to be stealthy.”

“Oh ya,” Daphne mocked. “I am sure that the sound of,” she gestured towards the horses, “THE FLEEING CARRIAGE wont alert anyone.”

Velma glared at Daphne but said nothing in response. With the uneasy tension among the group, Shaggy decided to fill the air. “Like, guys, I think it was a mistake to take this job.” Scooby’s head sunk a little in agreement.

Fred frowned. “Come on guys. We have been in worse spots before and we always found a way.” He made sure to give each member of his crew a look. “We haven’t failed a single mission yet, and I’ll be damned if we start now.” He raised the satchel at his side to enunciate his point. “This will get to King Bugs - Even if I have to sacrifice each and every one of you.”

“I don’t think I’m in favor of splitting up anymore.” Daphne muttered.

“What do you mean?!” Fred laughed unconvincingly. “I didn’t say I have a plan yet.”

“Sure Freddie.” Daphne chuckled.

Velma, despite herself, couldn’t resist the small smile forming on her face. To hide it, she decided to turn her head towards the castle some distance away now. She raised her fingers to her lips in ponder, “Well, at the very least, I think it’ll be obvious when they discover what we took.” She glanced back to the group; smile replaced with a serious posture. “An explosion of color.”

As she turned her head back to Fred, she saw him nodding in agreement.

“Indeed. And I suspect that we only have a moment of calm left. We need to decide our next move.” Fred paused, almost hesitant to say his next words. After a few moments though, he resolved himself. “Okay guys, Now, I have a plan.”

“Please,” Shaggy whimpered. He ceased petting Scooby… whom also looked distressed. “Like, don’t say it; Just don’t.”

“What?” Fred asked. He looked to his companions; They had stern, jaded looks on their faces. Fred sighed and rubbed his eyes before speaking again. “Look, you know what I want to say. But you also know the condition we are in.” He looked at Velma. “All we have to do is ask ourselves a couple very simple questions.” He once again brought focus to the satchel. “Question one, does this have to get to King Bugs?”

Fred paused after speaking. Eventually, Velma figured out that he wouldn’t start again until someone answered him. “Yes Fred.” Velma let out a regretful sigh. “And not just because we want to complete our commission, but for the sake of our nation.”

Fred nodded. “Alright then. One more question… just one.” He put the satchel back down. “Knowing that forces will be sent after us; And knowing that it will be a pure unrelenting force that we will not be able to contest, does staying together in one group make sense?” Fred once again waited for someone to respond.

This time it was Shaggy who spoke up. “Alright. I see it.” He began checking his weapons and armor for issues.

“Wait Shaggy,” Daphne spoke up. “We haven’t discussed how to split up yet.”

“Ha.” Shaggy chucked. He finished checking his own arms and began to look over Scooby. “Like, do we ever do it any other way?” Shaggy chuckled as he finished up his checks.

“No… well… but,” Daphne stammered. She eventually decided that there was nothing to be said. She knew he was right; they all knew.

Velma, meanwhile, began to dig through her sack.

“I’ll need multiple doses Velma.” Shaggy insisted. “For me and for Scoob.”

“Mhhh.” Velma muttered in response. Eventually she found what she was looking for. “I dont know if I have enough. Hopefully it is.” She brought up her hands to Shaggy. In her palms, rested 4 pills.

Shaggy grabbed all of them without looking. “It will have to be enough.” He took two pills and swallowed them raw himself. The other two he gave to Scooby. “Come on Scoob, time for your Scooby snack.” At first Scooby hesitated, but eventually, sensing the serious tone, slobbered them right up.

Nothing happened at first. But Fred watched as slowly, Scooby’s fur grew darker and more feral. His ears stopped sagging, his teeth elongated, his nose grew fierce. Every inch of Scooby’s body became more powerful and muscled. By the end of the process, Scooby almost looked like a mythical beast; As if he turned into a monster from stories of Gods and heroes. Turning to Shaggy, Fred could see that the change was less apparent. Shaggy’s musculature grew more defined, his posture fixed up, and there was a looseness to his body. Shaggy’s stance shouted of one ready to strike at any moment.

“Never fails to impress,” Velma said in awe. “No matter how many times I see it.” She looked at the hand that had given over the Scooby Snack. “Shame it only works on you. We could help.”

“Noooo…” Shaggy’s voice was gravely. “It’s better that it only works for Scoob and me.” He began to mount up onto his dog. “This isn’t as pleasant as it looks.”

“Really?” Fred began. “Because it already looks painful.” Shaggy didn’t respond.

Daphne, meanwhile, leaned forward to pet Scooby’s nape. She was rewarded with a dull growl. “Shaggy, Scooby …” she began. 

Suddenly, a giant burst of light exploded from far away. Coming from the castle in the distance, various shades of colors created from different partitions of pink, azure, green, and a little bit of gold tinted the sky.

“Do see that?” Velma asked as she gazed at the light show.

“I feel that.” Daphne answered.

“That’s the que then.” Fred extended out a hand to Shaggy. “When we see you again, I expect a message of succuss.” Fred commanded.

Shaggy had a confused look on his face. “What do you mean.” He grabbed Fred’s hand regardless.

Instead of answering, Fred grabbed the satchel, for the last time, and handed it over to Shaggy. “You are right. We only ever do this one way.” He grinned as Shaggy took the bag away. “Let’s do it different this time.”

Shaggy nodded. He grabbed the satchel, broke the handshake, and mounted Scooby. With his last moment, he looked at his friends and said, “Good luck.” Before anyone could respond, Scooby launched himself, and rider, out of the carriage before racing into the forest.

In but only a few seconds, Fred couldn’t even hear them anymore. Shaggy and Scooby were gone. He looked to his remaining team and saw the wistful looks on their faces.

“Alright girls,” Fred knocked them out of thought. As they turned their heads to him, Fred was already back in place at the front of the carriage, with the horse’s reins in hand. “They have their job, we have ours.” Fred wasn’t didn’t bother looking back at them. “Let’s get to it.”

“Right.” They both squeaked.

Fred heard their affirmative responses, but there was something missing. As he turned his head back yet again, he forced himself to look upon their faces. There was something there - a regretful stare towards the direction that Scooby and Shaggy charged. Fred sighed; a sigh which proved enough to draw both Velma and Daphne from their thoughts.

“Did you say something?” Daphne asked.

Fred said nothing for a few seconds, considering how to move the conversation forward. After a while, he decided how to proceed. “Are you scared?” Fred muttered.

“What?” Daphne asked.

“For Shaggy?” Velma, quicker on the uptake, followed up.

Fred nodded. “For Shaggy,” he confirmed.

It was Velma’s turn to sigh. “Look, I know that it’s the right move – to send him out alone. Its just…” she sighed again. “Its just…” she wandered off.

Daphne stepped in to complete the though. “It’s just the fact that every other mission we do seems to result in him putting his body on the line.”

“And us?” Fred raised an eye brow and looked around, baffled. “I am so confused as to what we are doing right now.”

“Alone Freddie.” Daphne said in a no-nonsense matter. “We always send him out alone.”

“He has Scoob.” Fred offered.

Daphne raised her hand, as if to smack Fred. He braced himself, but after a moment, Daphne thought better of it and relented. Instead, she said nothing and smoldered.

“Look Daphne.” Fred began again. “It’s just as Velma said,” he gestured towards her, “What we are dealing with, here and now, requires his abilities. And just as in every other mission we’ve had, he will perform.”

“You sure?” Daphne hesitated.

“Every time I send him out - alone, I know that death is just as likely an eventuality as any other.” Fred took a deep breath before continuing. “And yet, I still make the call…. I still make that call. Shaggy will get what I ask of him done. I know he will.” Fred explained.

Velma chuckled. “Does Shaggy know that you think so highly of him?” she asked.

Fred laughed in return. “Maybe.” He answered. “Perhaps when we see him again at King Bugs’ castle, one of you will tell him.”

Daphne, with a hopeful smile on her face, promised “I definitely will – for all of us.” With that, the crew fell into a silent satisfaction; focused surviving the ride ahead.

As the horses pulled the carriage down the road, Fred, Daphne, and Velma each ensured that their equipment was in good state. Fred took his maul out and held it at the ready. Daphne looked over her many magical foci and ensured their clarity. And Velma went through all her arrows, checking that they would indeed fly true. The light radiating out from the tower was still some distance away from them, but the forest itself was unnerving. Despite the current lack of apparent danger, the very aura emanating out put the three of them on edge. It was almost as if the dirt path was purposely maintained in a state of disrepair; to discourage visitors and prevent escape. To that end, the road seemed to have been almost seeded with bones and viscera. Although, for the sake of his life, Fred actually couldn’t remember the condition of this path being quite this poor. When his crew had originally rode to the castle, it was blighted with waste. However, there is no chance that it was quite to the magnitude that he was currently witnessing. At least, he was pretty sure…

“Uh, Velma?” Fred eventually decided to ask. As he learned his head over the carriage to gaze at the bones, he continued his line of questioning. “Do you remember all this garbage on the road?”

Velma, along with Daphne, followed Fred’s gaze. With a frown, Velma brought her head back up and voiced a quiet, “no”.

“Where do you think it all came from?” Daphne polled the group. “Uh, I think I can see some rusty old weapons among the bones too.”

Velma pondered the situation. Where could have all this junk came from? Velma was pretty sure that they would have been aware of a battle occurring during their limited stay at the castle. And all of a sudden, it became clear. She launched towards Fred and Daphne. “PULL YOUR HEADS BACK IN.” Both her hands shot out to her compatriots’ backs and pulled them back in.

“What?” Fred began to ask. His answer was soon evident as a blade replaced the space his head was once in. With a gulp, Fred quickly muttered out, “Thanks”.

All around the carriage, the bones littering the path slowly began to coalesce into many many skeletal forms. Some were as small as dogs and some were as large as horses; All were armed with the weapons that Daphne had observed. And despite the speed of the horse-drawn carriage, the skeletons were easily keeping pace. Not that it would have mattered, as Fred observed, considering the skeletons where located everywhere. In fact, the only reason that the carriage was still moving forward was due to the horses’ trot impeding some of the bones from combining.

“Is this what the Professor was sending after us?” Daphne asked.

“No.” Fred answered, hefting his weapon. “This is from the Reaper… and its only phase 1.”

Daphne nodded. She brought up her staff and began to chant. “DROT MUT KAVIR…”

However, before she could finish her incantation, Velma interrupted. “NO WAIT.” She cried.

“What?” Daphne asked annoyed; a frown on her face.

“We can’t use magic.” She nodded towards the light beams in the sky; still looming in the distance. “It will lead them right to us. These skeletons are brain dead. They can’t send messages. They just activated automatically to deal with us.”

Fred with a great swing of his maul, destroyed several of the skeletons trying to slash at the horses. “Then we do this the hard way.” He recovered from his swing and readied for another. “BRING IT ON” He shouted. He stood in place and made every effort to prevent the skeletons from harassing the horses. Luckily, Fred and Shaggy had been rigorous in outfitting the creatures with many defenses; armor least of all. Otherwise, the beasts would find the constant impacts of bones upon their bodies as highly irritating. Instead of slowing down though, the horses continued to pull the carriage down the path with single minded determination.

Meanwhile, Daphne had an angry expression on her face as her grip reversed on her staff. Flipping it around to the other side, she revealed a spearpoint laced with several runes; each rune glowing implicit in their power. “All right. We do this the barbarian way.” Daphne gritted out through grinded teeth.

Her expression of annoyance and lamentation was soon interrupted by several tremendous leaps from multiple skeletons. Daphne, finally accepting the situation, swung her staff through the air. Following the staff through the air, one of the glowing runes left behind a shimmering line of golden light in the air. Once the leaping skeletons finally got close, the arc of light exploded in a blast of vibrant lighting. Any momentum from the leaps of the skeletons promptly ceased as the blast launched the charred bones backwards. Instead of their intended goal of Daphne’s neck, the skeletons only collapsed into their bony compatriots. 

With a grin on her face, Daphne was about to exclaim in glee … until she saw Velma’s look of disapproval. “What?” Daphne asked.

“I didn’t say anything.” Velma answered. She let loose several arrows that swiftly pieced several skeleton ankles. With legs no longer connected to their feet, the targeted bonemen swiftly collapsed to the floor and were promptly crushed by the steps of their fellow spooks. “I mean, I might as well not say anything. You didn’t listen to the whole ‘no magic’ thing.” Velma clarified after a moment.

Daphne continued to use the runes on her staff to blast apart any skeletal form that attempted to leap onto the charging carriage. “What?” Daphne whined. She gestured to the runes before continuing. “This isn’t technically magic. Its runecraft.” Before she could explain further, an undead gorilla leaped from the trees above onto the carriage. Before the shaking caused by the impact subsided, Daphne pointed her staff towards gorilla and stabbed forward. Instead of the golden rune used earlier, a different rune released a mute rusted color. Once the beam of light came into contact with the undead animal, the entire length burst into a force of energy that slammed into the gorilla. Almost as fast as the carriage, the gorilla launched away from the crew and collapsed into the trees along the edge of the dirt road.

Velma, witnessing the trade, pivoted her attention away from the path and towards the upper branches of the trees. “Jinkies” she cried out. She began notching arrows two at a time now and decided to be less precise with her aim. The branches were full of similar undead simians and Velma had determined that quantity was now more valued than quality.

“So, as I was saying,” Daphne continued, ignorant of Velma’s observation. “Runework, not magic.” As she spoke, she continued to use the many runes on her staff to draw light all around carriage. They depleted in bursts of thunder and explosions as skeletons charged headfirst into them in mindless assault. Daphne, however, continued to redraw them without a care in the world. “The arcana in runework is implicit to the runes themselves.” She continued her explanation to Velma. “To those that can sense it, the difference between runes being used and the runes simply existing is negligible.” She nodded towards the light beams, still piercing the sky itself. “If the runework could give us away, them just existing would be enough.”

“Well then.” Fred commented. “That’s enough for me.” Still at his post defending the horses, Fred’s maul began to glow a dull green. At face value, nothing obvious changed. However, Fred soon began to manipulate his maul faster and faster. Soon, the enemies chasing along the sides could barely even reach the horses, let alone truly impede the gang’s escape.

“In any case, I suspect that the ambient magic of the runes is disguised by the surrounding woods.” Daphne added as an afterthought. She gestured to a zombie hawk just as it collided with one of the light lines protecting the carriage… it promptly exploded. “I mean these things are clearly artificial. I have to imagine that this much necromancy far outweighs whatever miniscule output our weapons are radiating.”

“Going to be honest with you.” Velma commented as her arrows knocked more leaping apes out of the air. “Sounds like you are putting your faith more into your latter argument than your former one.”

Daphne grimaced. She said nothing for a moment as she evaded a few spears thrown by some skeletons. As she dodged, she gazed at the light beams in the distance. “Well,” she began after a while, “based on those pillars, I don’t think we have a problem.”

“Not that I mind the situation,” Fred grunted out in between of smashing several heads, “But I want to say that arguments in retrospect… generally not a fan of them.” As the horses charged forward, Fred found his own moment to look back at the pillars of light still rising out of the castle. “And not to rain on your parade, but don’t those things look like they are getting closer…FUCK” Fred cried out as a spear grazed his side. Refocusing, he turned his head forward and found skeletons trespassing on his horses; He reengaged into the melee. Regardless of any discussion into the nature of runes and magic, the carriage would not be allowed to stop.

Before the skeletons could find a gap in the horses’ armor, Fred had already decided what his next course of action would be. Carefully preparing for a leap, Fred positioned his tensed legs on the edge of the carriage. With an explosion of effort, he jumped off the carriage and landed on top of Mystery. Whatever magic powered the skeletons clearly wasn’t high spec and they failed to react. Fred was able to slam his maul into the chest of the several of them before they finally realized that he was a greater obstacle than the horses. The two remaining skeletons brought their own weapons to bear in time to deflect Fred’s continuous strikes.

“Not enough!” Fred shouted. Carefully bracing himself against the horse, Fred slammed his maul into the defending weapons as hard as he could. That blow combined with the constant shaking of the horses; the skeletons found themselves unable to hold on. They collapsed onto the dirt and were soon left behind by the carriage.

Now alone on his horse, Fred gazed at the remaining skeletal steeds chasing alongside him. “NO ONE ELSE IS TOUCHING MY HORSES!” he shouted.

And it was as he gazed upon those bony bodies; he could truly appreciate the state of the skeletons. They were filthy things, likely due to the mud that once hid them.

“Wait…” Fred spoke out loud. “Wait a second.” Was that mud? Or was it instead dried-up caked blood clinging to the bodies of murders?

“What’s wrong Freddie?” Daphne shouted his way.

“Uh, not to distract you and Velma…” Fred began.

“No, its fine. I’m not doing anything important.” Velma mocked. At this point, the skeletal gorillas had apparently gotten sick of trying and failing to leap onto the speeding carriage. They merely satisfied themselves with throwing logs and rocks at the carriage in an attempt to slow them down. Unluckily for them, due to Daphne’s rune magic defense, Velma was able to largely focus on the projectiles. The assault from the gorillas might have been an attempt at hurting the carriage’s momentum, but with Velma’s archery, it was only a failed attempt.

Plus, it helped that the skeletons had not been programed with a knowledge of vectors. More often than not, they aimed for were the carriage was and not where it would be.

Still, Velma knew that she shouldn’t get sloppy. Afterall, the gorillas only have to hit the carriage once to be successful.

Fred decided to ignore the sarcasm however. “So, these skeletons that we have been fighting,” He paused as he bashed away another couple of boney-men who tried to leap onto the carriage. “Have you actually taken a good look at them”.

Daphne shook her head. “Can’t really say so. None of them have gotten past the light mines for gaze.”

“Nope.” Velma agreed. “To busy hitting junk out of the sky… But please … do share.”

Fred sighed. “Alright then.” He muttered. His eyes darted around the scene; they quickly settled on one particular skeleton leaping off its mount and onto the racing carriage. “Oh, how convenient.” Quicker than a sapient could react, one of Fred’s hands grasped onto the skeleton’s skull while the other hand, still armed with the maul, battered the neck apart. As the skeleton body fell away, Fred tossed the head over to Daphne and Velma. “Coming your way.”

“FREDDIE.” Daphne shouted. She stepped forward to catch the head. Threat or not, if it hit the light, it would explode. Despite almost fumbling it, her hands eventually stabilized and firmly grasped at the severed head. With what few seconds of downtime she could spare, Daphne quickly gave the head a once over. “I give up. What’s the deal?” Daphne admitted as she tossed it over to Velma.

“Ah.” Velma only needed a look.

“Is that mud or dried blood on the skull?” Fred gave voice to the unaired thought.

Once Velma knocked a few more logs out of the sky, she spared a pair of fingers to give the skull a touch. Bringing the residue to her face, she looked closely, gave it a sniff, and quickly decided the origin of the coloring upon the skull.

“It’s blood,” she confirmed.

“That is what I thought.” Fred nodded.

Daphne quickly shifted her gaze from Velma to Fred and back. “I’m sorry, but what am I missing?”

“These are undead skeletons, but they don’t bleed.” Fred began.

“This blood had to come from somewhere.” Velma continued.

A confused look grew on Daphne’s face. “It’s a trap. It was meant to kill people.”

“It wasn’t here when we traveled into the castle.” Fred amended. “This is new; I am sure of it.”

Realization came to Daphne. “This was planted.” She said, “And recently too.”

“Yes, but not just that,” Velma made sure to add, “Don’t forget; either these skeletons were freshly harvested or freshly used.”

“Well then.” Fred grimaced as he broke several more of the endless horde. “Which of the two?”

“This is very interesting, but does it matter?” Daphne inquired. “These things are here now and they are threat now.”

“Well…” Fred began.

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Velma interrupted. “Oh Jinkies.”

“What’s wrong” Fred pivoted over.

“Daphne, remember how you mentioned that the runes wouldn’t be enough to give our position away?” Velma asked.

“I didn’t say it so confidently, but sure,” Daphne responded.

Velma pointed over to the light beams in the sky. “I think you were wrong.”

Despite the clear and present danger represented by the surrounded skeletons, all three could not resist turning their sight towards the light beams still visible from the castle now beyond the horizon. Before, the spectrum of light had been pure vertical. Now? Well now, there was a definite bend and said bend was in the direction of the gang’s current position. Although, interestingly enough, the golden edging that had been present before was now gone.

“And I thought light only travels in straight lines.” Fred muttered. He shook his head before speaking again. “I don’t think it was the runework. If those beings knew it was us, they would have arrived much faster.” He thought about the situation for a moment. “I think it’s the skeletons”.

“I thought they couldn’t directly communicate with them?” Daphne asked.

“No, but if you are flying, a few thousand skeletons polluting the dirt road will definitely be obvious after a while.” Fred clarified.

The bend of light grew sharper and sharper as it began to draw closer in the direction of the carriage’s neck of the woods.

“Whatever the reason, they are coming closer!” Velma shouted. “And we can’t afford to be neck deep in skeletons when they arrive!”

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.” Fred yelled.

“Fred, I think it’s too late to split up!” Daphne cried out.

“Don’t worry. It isn’t that this time.” Fred assured. With a steady hand, Fred directed the horses off the path and right into the trees.

“What?” Velma shouted. Before she fully comprehended the new plan, Velma found herself having to strafe side to side as the carriage slammed through into the forest. Branches and trees and even falling skeletal apes were all blasted out of the way as Mystery and Machine obeyed Fred’s new heading. Velma was aware enough to take care of those last beasts though. Any non-sentient object, incapable of independent movement, was quickly blasted away by Daphne’s light lines.

“FREDDIE!” Daphne shouted as she frantically drew more rusted lines in the air to prevent the carriage from getting battered apart by the trees. “ON THE RECORD, I must say that I am not a fan of this plan!”.

Fred gazed up into the sky without saying anything. He was greeted with a trio of light beams quickly cutting through the sky towards the dirt road path. The air itself almost seemed to recoil away as the energy blazed forward. With a shake of the head, he turned back to his current heading, intent on directing the horses and responded. “Well,” Fred shouted back, “Best way forward far as I see it.”

Velma continued letting loose her arrows at the few skeletons with the dexterity to follow them. They tended to be the same beast skeletons already in the trees … and they tended to fall quickly under her focus and aim. “You know, he might be right.” Velma admitted. With the ever-present light in the sky, Velma couldn’t help but be worried. “Eventually, even if we could batter through the skeletons, the shear volumes of waste would slow us down.” She paused in her archery and looked frankly at Daphne. “That dirt road was one way in and one way out. With the skeletons stalling us, eventually, we would be stopped.” She pointed at the beams and continued, “That is already faster than us, but if we stop, we no longer have a chance of getting away.”

“Well, we could do our job of attracting attention.” Daphne muttered. “For Shaggy.”

Despite himself, a hearty laugh left Fred. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that.” He bashed away the remaining skeletons along his flanks. “We made an impact. We are being followed. If anything, going into the woods forces their attention upon us to be focused. They can’t afford to broad out their search.”

A nervous giggle left Daphne “Who knows, we might…”

“Wait.” Velma interrupted. “There is something coming.”

“I’m sorry, there has been something coming for a while now.” Fred answered.

“SHUT IT” Velma insisted. She directed her bow towards a few beast monsters in the trees, but she did not release. “Something is coming fast… faster than skeletons should be able.”

A great hairy monster suddenly landed on the branches with the great skeletons. Its impact was enough to completely part the skeletons. And as the bones sprinkled to the ground, Velma fired, even before she was consciously aware of what she sent arrows to.

Daphne noticed though. She watched as the arrows flew at and proved more irritating than damaging. 

“That is a massive spider.” Daphne whispered. She hoped that saying it quietly would somehow disappoint her less than if she was to announce it loudly. As if she didn’t want to accept the truth before her eyes.

Fred, not hearing however, turned his head to ask. Before he did, he saw the beast, now leaping after them – tree to tree to tree. “Oh No… It’s one of his beasts”.

A truly monstrous arachnid was now jumping after the carriage. It didn’t waste time spinning webs, it merely launched itself with long and terrifying legs. From sight alone, it almost felt like the trees shouldn’t have been able to support the arachnid’s weight. And indeed, after each leap, trees soon collapsed to the ground.

After every log impact with dirt, the crew were gifted a massive audible crash. And each impact made Fred cringe internally. “Well, there goes not leaving a trail.” He gazed back into the sky. “Well, good news, the light isn’t coming towards us yet.” Fred assured his compatriots.

“And worse news,” Velma continued, “We have to deal with this now.” Her hands went to her reserve quiver. She needed the good stuff for this.

“Well, there is something else.” Fred joked.

“Oh, what? What else?” Daphne braced… her staff and herself.

“Definitely going to be attracting attention now.” Fred released another hearty chuckle.

“Everyone’s a comedian.” Daphne bit out through gritted teeth.

As Fred urged the horses to go faster through the underbrush, the mystery crew could only watch the spider with baited breath. It hadn’t made any direct assaults upon the carriage just yet; rather it only followed, menacingly hopping from branch to branch.

“Is it going to do something?” Daphne asked. It seemed content to simply pace after the carriage for now. “Is it waiting for something?”

“Well,” Fred began, “It may be waiting for something, but we aren’t. Take it down.” He ordered.

“Finally,” Velma thanked as she nocked her special bows. “A plan of yours I agree with”.

Before Fred could express how much his feelings had been hurt, Velma let loose with a torrent of arrows. With the spider already in mid jump, it was trivial for Velma to predict which branches it would land upon. And as her net of arrows shot towards the spider’s target, she could tell that it was fully aware and could have pivoted away; It chose, however, not too. That was its mistake. Quickly after the spider landed on its next branch, the arrows impaled in the bark exploded in a blinding display of light. The spider, without the proper support, soon began to collapse along with the branches.

“HA,” Daphne laughed. “Let’s see it follow now!”

She was about to taunt more, until she saw the spider rotate while in midair. From its abdomen, a sticky web erupted and latched onto a branch. Using its weight for momentum, the spider began to swing forward using the web.

“Uh…” Daphne muttered.

“Daph… It’s a spider.” Velma deadpanned. She quickly sent another arrow flying to cut the spider thread. Using its built-up speed however, the spider launched forward and landed several hundred units in front of the carriage.

And it screeched.

It screeched such a sound that Fred had to struggle to keep the horses charging forward. The screech caused Velma to fumble her bow, and drop many arrows out of her quiver, to the ground. And the screech caused Daphne to collapse to her knees, her staff fallen out of her hands.

Barely fighting the horse urge to cause, Fred glanced back for a spare second and saw the state of his compatriots. Turning back forward, he was greeted to the image of the spider angling its abdomen to launch forward several more webs.

“GET UP!” Fred yelled. “GET UP NOW!” With his eyes tense with uncertainty, Fred secured his maul with one hand and the horse’s reigns with the other. He would have looked back to shout at his friends more, but it was too late. The spider had begun its curtain assault already. “INCOMING.” Fred shouted.

Using the reigns, Fred forced the horses to strafe as best as they could. To dodge the incoming web, the horses had to jump left and right, and behind large trees. The two horses were directed by Fred to evade as quickly and efficiently as they could handle while still dealing with the many complex maneuvers forced upon them. It wasn’t enough; for many globs of web, the horses couldn’t evade in time. Those, Fred was forced to deflect carefully with his own maul. Although, as Fred looked at his maul after each interception, deflection seemed the wrong way to describe what he was doing with his weapon. Sacrifice was probably more accurate. Each impact on his maul made it heavy and more cumbersome to use. Even worse, he had to be more aware of his maul positioning… if he accidently touched the web blighted maul incorrectly, he wouldn’t be able to pick it up again.

“Girls, I could really use…” Fred began.

“Keep it quiet; Focus on your part.”

Fred stopped talking as a voice appeared by his ear. He didn’t need to avert his gaze to know it was Velma. “I won’t be able to keep it steady,” Fred hesitated as he swerved the carriage back and forth.

With her bow already up, Velma began to track the oncoming web. “I won’t need you too.” 

Fred nodded in response. He carefully positioned his maul away, and grabbed the reigns with both hands. “Let’s get it on then. GIDDYUP” He directed the horses to focus less on evasion and more on speed. The horses sped up, but at the cost of their dynamic movement. The spider was shocked at the new tactic; Fred could tell. Instead of continuing its release, it began to back peddle as fast as its 8 legs could manage.

Evidently, it clearly didn’t want the carriage in front of it again.

Once the spider deemed itself with a sufficient distance advantage, a challenge considering the rate that the carriage was traveling, it began to launch webs again. The assault wasn’t as fierce as before. The spider had apparently decided to multitask; its new plan was to attack and waddle as fast as it could manage, so as to not be overwhelmed by the carriage’s speed.

Looking at the spider’s attempt to balance the two actions, with its abdomen stuck up in the front as its 8 long legs frantically paced back, well, Fred couldn’t help but chuckle. Frankly, the beast looked ridiculous. And based on the firm and steady pace of the carriage, Fred could tell his horses agreed with him. They charged onwards – through the bushes and shrubs, around the stumps, and past the trees. It wasn’t a smooth ride, the carriage was shaking something fierce, but it was a fast one.

The spider frantically fired webs at the horses. If it had one thing on its side, its target was no longer attempting to evade as much. It was now on a death charge forward … and the spider easily could tell that it would not be able to keep its lead… At least Fred thought so. The incoming webs were less scattered and more pinpointed towards the critical points of the carriage – the horses, the wheels, and Fred himself.

The carriage was directed without fear though. Velma had already determined that they would make their way forward safely. Countless globs of web found themselves propelled towards the carriage and countless globs of web found themselves repelled. Soon, the spider found itself with more projectiles flying towards it than against it. The arrows exploded but left the spider with little else but newfound irritation. Still, the spider seemed to recognize that its current plan would no longer work against Velma’s archery. Faced with the revelation, the spider made another great leap to the side.

“Where did it go?” Fred shouted. With unerring focus on the way forward, he forced the horses forward with ever greater haste; he didn’t have the time or ability to look for a spider.

“Looking…” Velma’s head frantically paced back and forth among the trees. “It can be literally anywhere.” She grabbed another arrow from her quiver and prepared it in place…ready to draw. “Get up!” she hissed at Daphne. “We need another set of eyes – get up.”

Daphne still cowered despite the order. It wasn’t until some gentle nudging from the many kicks sent over by Velma, until Daphne finally found the resolve to get up. And as Daphne slowly got up, another loud screech echoed in the forest.

“Faster,” Velma begged. “Faster please.” The screeching grew louder and almost seemed to piece through the forest itself. Desperately, Velma’s eyes shot across the horizon.

“Ah ah, I got it.” Daphne finally was at the ready. With her stave up, she joined Velma in vigilance. “Have you hurt it at all” Daphne asked.

“No.” Velma answered with a frown. “It seems resilient but skittish and intelligent. My arrows didn’t seem to do much, but it decided to move on once its current plan of attack ceased performing.” She continued to explain.

“I would argue it never started performing.” Fred added. “Especially once y’all got off your butts.” He added in a mumble.

Velma heard him and shot over a glare. It wasn’t seen, since Fred was currently focused on directing the horses through the undergrowth, but the action satisfied Velma none-the-less; She continued speaking. “Even so. I suspect we will have to deal with it. Else our escape will be rather hampered.” Velma finished.,

“Tactical withdrawal” Fred corrected. “It’s a tactical withdrawal to deliver important information.”

“Call it what you want,” Daphne replied. “All the same; We are currently going as fast as our horses, and these trees, will allow.”

“Deal with the giant monster spider and I’ll slow the pace down a tad.” Fred replied.

“I got it.” For the first time today, every rune on her stave began to glow brightly.

Hearing the sudden collapse of trees on their flank, Velma turned to Daphne. “I know that stuff usually takes a while, but, uh, speed it up.”

“It’ll be done when it’s done.” Daphne griped.

Fred sighed. “All right then. I am sure the spider won’t mind waiting.”

“Snark is unbecoming of you.” Velma commented.

Framed by the continuing collapse of the greater trees in the distance, Fred could only shrug. “Well, I could hope.” Fred frowned. “I can always hope.”

“Well right now, you need to get the horses going faster.” Velma gasped at something in the distance. Following her gaze, Fred saw the spider charging as fast as it could towards them; battering logs and rocks and who knows what aside. “Daphne, really, running out of time”.

She didn’t say anything, focused on her stave as she was.

“All right then.” Velma muttered. Bringing her bow up, and drawing the string back to her chin, she carefully aimed. “I’ll give the spider a reason to slow down.”

Through the branches and into the woods, Velma sent her few remaining arrows. In two separate waves, the arrows staggered as they arrived at their designated targets. The first few arrows flew straight into the eyes of the spider.

A gut-wrenching roar entered the air; not one of pain or fear, but of rage. To the shock of the crew, the spider somehow managed to scuttle forward even faster.

“NO.” Velma whispered.

The spider charged through the explosion, with wraith in its many eyes. So quickly the beast moved, it completely avoided the second wave of arrows sent by Velma. Distantly behind the spider, the few arrows still in flight, uselessly exploded against the base of the surrounded trees. Instead of collapsing upon the spider, the massive splintered logs collapsed upon Velma’s goals.

“TIMES UP!” Velma shouted.

“DAPHNE!” Fred added.

“SHUT… SHUT IT.” Daphne responded. “I’M … I think I got it.” Bringing her stave up, Daphne began to draw a multi-color spectrum of light in the air. “This will be violent.”

“Noted.” Fred and Velma commented.

The massive spider drew closer and closer until it was just behind the carriage, keeping pace with them; bearing down over them. While 7 of its legs continued to scuttle onwards, one single leg was brought up and promptly slammed down onto the carriage. Instead of stabbing through the wooden structure however, Daphne’s artistry began to glow. Suddenly a dome materialized and held the spider leg back.

“Uh…” Velma began as she gazed upon the rainbow colored, rune inscribed, dome. “Was this supposed to do something else?”

“It was supposed to explode upon receiving sufficient impact!” Daphne shouted. “I think it’s trying to time out the mana implicit to it.”

“What do we do?” Velma asked.

“Easy enough.” Fred assured. He held out the horse reins to Daphne, “here hold this.”

“What?” Daphne asked dumbly. She grabbed the reins and took Fred’s former position as he moved towards Velma.

“I’ll take this.” Fred assured as he swiped Velma’s final arrow.

“Wait that’s my last one.” Velma shouted.

Her hands went out to grab it back, but Fred was to fast. With a firm grasp, he held the arrow back, before launching directly into the dome.

For a moment, the arrow and spider legged touched. And then, loud. It was very loud and very bright. Daphne struggled to keep the horses from panicking. With great effort, she kept the carriage’s heading true.

“AAHHHH.” Velma groaned. “Jinkies, that’s mighty rough.” She waved a hand to dissipate the smoke around her. 

With a big grin on his face, Fred turned to Velma. “See? Don’t worry about your arrow. It was used well.”

A screech once again filled the air, and a leg instantly swiped all the explosive remnants away. There, chasing the carriage still, was the spider.

“UUUHHHH.” Fred groaned. “ITS STILL FINE.” His eyes shot across the body of the beast, hoping for any sign of damage.

“What will it take to kill this thing?” Daphne asked, still struggling to maintain control of the horses.

“Wait, wait.” Velma held Fred. “Look” A pointed hand shot forward to direct Fred’s attention. “Its carapace is cracked, and in many places too.” Throughout the Beast’s body, cracks with oozing ichor colored the beast. They were proof of damage, despite the face the spider presented forward.

Fred began nodding as he took in what Velma pointed out. “Alright” He paused in thought. “Alright, I can work with this.” With a firm hand, Fred grasped, yet again, his maul and whispered to Velma. “Use her stave.”

“What?” Velma asked. She watched as Fred quickly stretched out his legs and took a strong stance.

“You are going to have to tie a rope to it and help me.” Fred explained. Before Velma could say anything else, Fred saw his moment; The spider had gotten close enough. With prodigious effort, Fred made the leap to the spider.

“FUCKER!” Velma shouted. “I need this.” Velma quickly grabbed the stave away from Daphne.

“What? Why?” Daphne whined. She turned her head to get a better grasp of the situation. She was first rewarded with the sight of Velma frantically wrapping a rope around her stave. “What… are… you… doing?” Daphne slowly asked. It was at that moment she was punished with the sight of the tail end of Fred’s great leap. “FREDDIE!”

“Quiet.” Velma ordered. “Keep the carriage steady.” Daphne nodded and refocused on the steeds.

Fred, meanwhile, finished his leap and firmly grasped onto the spider’s abdomen. The spider was either indifferent or unaware of Fred, focused as it was on the fleeing carriage. Slowly, and with great care, Fred carefully climbed his way forward; the central thorax of the beast his goal. The climbing was rough and precarious as each step exposed him to increasing masses of ichor still stuck to the spider’s fur. Making the climb a greater challenge, as Fred inched toward his goal, branches and other such organics began to rain upon him; impacting upon various parts of his body.

“Almost there,” Fred muttered to himself. Actively focused on the modulation between speed and care, Fred knew he had a limited time frame to get to his goal. Seeing a leg narrowly miss its target against the carriage, Fred quickened his pace. Despite a few faltered grasps, Fred reached his goal…more or less intact. With a deep breath, Fred collected himself. “Showtime. GET READY!” Fred shouted.

Velma heard the shout, paused for a moment, before frantically hurrying to complete the complex knot on the stave.

“HERE WE GO”. FRED launched to his feet in a burst of movement. With immaculate grace, Fred elegantly twisted and turned to evade any of the branches quickly flying past him. Satisfied that he wasn’t at risk of falling, Fred turned what remained of his focus towards the long cracks leaking ichor present on most of the spider’s long needle legs. Through immense rage and furious will, Fred’s maul shot forward and impacted onto every crack that he could possibly reach. At first, Fred couldn’t lie to himself, as there was a shred of doubt in his mind and heart. The sustained blows provided Fred with very little visual feedback regarding his blows.

But then, he saw the near-clotted ichor on one of the cracks begin to leak once more. With that proof, he re-doubled his efforts while also focusing on the cracks expanding the quickest.

At this point, the spider decided that the human on its back was now worthy of attention, but it was too late. The spider’s legs soon exploded, once more, into a shower of gore. Fluids rained all over the spider… and Fred himself. The spider began to slow down its pace, almost unintentionally. Aware that it would lose its prey, the spider tried to push itself still.

Instead, the legs began to trip on each other and themselves.

Fred once again braced himself for another leap. “VELMA. I NEED AN ASSIST NOW!” he shouted.

Velma, hearing Fred’s plea, ceased any further efforts unto her knot; it would have to do. As she tensed her muscles in preparation for a toss, Daphne firmly grasped onto the rope tied to the weapon with her free hand.

“GOOO!” Daphne shouted.

With a hearty grunt, Velma threw the stave directly towards the collapsing state of the spider. Or rather, threw the stave as accurate she could towards Fred, who had just leaped.

And it was as the spider fell and cartwheeled onto the ground, rapidly growing farther and farther away from the speeding carriage, Fred caught the stave midleap. Velma shifted her hands to the rope, and along with Daphne, pulled as hard they could.

Fred, with a death grip on his end of the stave, was dragged away from his decaying leap and onto the carriage. He landed onto the carriage standing, until he collapsed down into a sitting position. With a tired breath, Fred couldn’t help himself. “Well, I think the spider is dealt with.” 

“Are you sure, because I can still smell it.” Daphne attempted to bat away the scent from Fred’s blood ridden clothes.

Velma watched the spider rapidly falling further and further away. She said nothing. Instead, she quickly refocused back onto Fred and began to look over him for any unseen injuries.

“Freddie, would you like to take the reins back?” Daphne asked.

“No, you are doing fine.” Fred responded as he was inspected by an annoyed Velma. “Besides, I do believe we are, soon to be, out of these beast cursed woods.”

“Indeed, we are,” Daphne agreed with a smile on her face.

Gradually, the trees became less and less dense while also shrinking vertically. No longer were the trees as massive as they were in the heart of the forest; they were but seedlings just entering their majority. As the path grew calmer, Daphne took a moment to turn her attention aware from directing the carriage and turned around.

“I would just like to say,” She began. Fred and Velma nodded, waiting for her comment. “If you broke my stave, I will kill you myself.”

Fred grinned. “No doubt… no doubt.”

Velma, finished with her examination of Fred, sighed. “Well, hopefully Shaggy and Scooby got away from all that.” With a sly grin directed at Daphne, she continued. “I can only assume we provided sufficient distraction.” Daphne didn’t react. Velma sighed again. Directing her gaze forward, she finished her original thought. “I can’t wait till we get to King Bugs. It’ll be nice to be reunited and in safety again.”

“Personally, I think I’ll get a large warm meal first.” Fred muttered. “I’m so tired.”

“First, I think you will be cleaning the rope marks off my stave.” Daphne griped. Inspecting the structure of her weapon, Daphne was faced with hordes of scars and rope burns. “This won’t be a quick task either.”

“I’ll think about it.” Fred answered.

“Freddie…” Daphne began.

“Guys, we have another issue.” Velma had a tinge of exhaust in her voice. “Maybe better, probably worse.”

“OH LORD, WHAT?” Fred slowly moved to the front of the carriage and looked where Velma was. “Oh. I see.”

Daphne as she turned her head couldn’t wait. “What is it?”

“The bridge is out” Fred answered. “The dang bridge is out.” He repeated in a murmur.

“What do we do?” Daphne watched as Fred retook the reins.

“We jump the gap, obviously.” Fred directed the horses straight towards the ruins of the bridge.

“What?” Velma gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Would you rather we go back into the forest and look for another way around the canyon?” Fred snapped.

“No, but…” Velma began.

“No buts about it. Our options are limited and the path forward is clear.” Fred began whipping the horses harder and harder. “Mystery and Machine will likely hate me once this is all and done, but at least we all, horses included, will still be alive to feel the hatred.”

“If they don’t die of exhaustion first.” Daphne commented.

“After this mission, we are going to have a conversation regarding what counts as a plan and how to get sufficient approval for them.” Velma muttered.

“Look, if you have any other idea that we could do, then go ahead, feel free to speak up.” Fred was met with silence. “Great. We are going with this then. Be quiet and hold on.”

Despite their state, despite the continuous chase they’ve been forced through, the horses found the energy to keep going on. And it was as the horses finally approached the entrance to the shattered bridge, Velma noticed something else.

“There is a sound coming from the trees again.” Velma brought up.

“It’s a forest. There are always sounds coming from it.” Fred grunted.

Daphne looked towards the forest. In part because she wanted to inspect Velma’s warnings, and in part because she didn’t want to see the leap.

It only took a few seconds to see the producer of the sound. The dread in Daphne’s heart was immense.

“No No No NO.” Daphne shouted. “How are you still alive?”

“Oh please,” Fred begged. “Please, I’m so tired.”

The horses had just made their great leap off the remains of the bridge. And as the carriage followed the momentum and was dragged into the air by the animals pulling it forward, a bloody and lacerated spider launched out of the trees; ichor dripping from its fur as it catapulted forward.

“How is it here?” Velma cried. With a desperate look on her face, she gazed at the scared spider body. Its legs were broken beyond function. There is no way it could have possibly chased them on foot.

“GOING UP” Fred gave a status report to the gang.

The carriage flew over the canyon. And it was as the crew drew ever closer to the height of their jump, Velma was hit with the obvious solution.

“THE SPIDER IS GOING TO WEB US!” Velma shouted.

Almost to confirm the thought, the spider somehow pivoted in midair to get its abdomen towards the carriage.

“Velma!” Daphne shouted. “Do something!” She watched as the webbing launched out of the spider and shot towards the carriage.

“I… I… I CAN’T” Velma shouted back. “OUT OF ARROWS”. Even as she said it, her hands frantically grasped at her two quivers. They grasped at nothing but air and achieved nothing except filling Velma with dread. With no option, Velma could only watch as the webbing somehow approached the carriage faster than made sense.

“FUCK.” Daphne shouted. She grabbed her stave, still at her side, and began chanting. “HEMOS VANTIV FLET!”

A pulse of energy echoed out from Daphne.

“NO, YOU’VE KILLED US.” Velma shouted.

A grand shield materialized behind the carriage, but still in front of the web. Once stuck on the shield, the spider found itself pulled forward, following the momentum of the carriage. When the spider reached a critical speed and positioning, Daphne cut the spell. In the middle of the canyon, the spider found nothing close enough to grasp onto to save its life.

The spider fell, deep into the scar marring the world itself; screeching the entire way down.

Meanwhile the horses, and carriage with it, successfully landed onto the far side of the canyon. The remains of the bridge shattered further and the carriage overturned onto the ground, but the crew made it.

And yet, tt was as Fred tumbled through the dirt, he considered that perhaps death from great heights would have been a less painful experience. Eventually though, enough of his speed was stolen by the ground that he stopped.

“OH LORD.” Fred groaned. Everything hurt; Every square inch of his person burned in pain. He was a mess of dirt and blood, most of which wasn’t even his own. Still, he eventually forced himself up and began looking for his comrades. Every movement was a struggle though and he could only shift himself slowly. To his surprise however, Velma stood over Daphne’s still prone body, shouting at her.

“YOU RUINED US! YOU RUINED US!” Velma repeated over and over again.

Fred found himself over there eventually, and tore Velma away from Daphne. As he helped Daphne up to her feet, with no help from her, Fred attempted to clarify the situation. “What’s wrong Velma? Daphne was just as critical as you were.”

“SHE USED MAGIC.” Velma shouted. “RIGHT AS THE END, WHEN THAT WEB WAS ABOUT TO HIT US, THAT WOMEN” Velma pointed at Daphne, “SHE USED MAGIC TO SHIELD US FROM THE IMPACT”.

Fred’s face morphed to anger. “Wait wait wait. WHAT!” His helpful hand morphed into a rough grasp. No longer was Fred helping Daphne up - instead he pulled her up. “WHY?”

Daphne had a firm look on her face. “I saved us.” Daphne answered. “If I didn’t do that, the web would have hit us, and we would have fallen into the canyon.” Daphne paused. “Just like the spider.”

“You don’t know that for sure.” Velma interjected. “You can’t know that.”

“Are you sure about that?” The resolute look still present on Daphne’s face she continued. “I am not. In fact, I think you should be thanking me. We would been dead without my actions.”

Fred let go of Daphne. With the sudden loss of support, she almost fell again. She caught herself quick enough however. Unaware of her struggle though, Fred gazed at the light beams in the sky, now unerringly approaching their direct position. He carefully modulated his voice so that it wouldn’t all come out as screaming; He pointed at the light and began. “We had either a chance of survival then, or a guarantee of death later. It wasn’t your choice to make, but you made it none-the-less.” He put his hand down, Velma and Daphne aware of the light’s ever approaching position, and sighed. “Well, the choice has been made. We can only hope that the consequences of your actions don’t reap us, instead of the other way around.”

Daphne and Velma looked at Fred, unmoving.

Fred looked at the ground for a moment before finding his discarded, now completely filthy, maul. He bent down and picked it up. The pain almost overwhelmed him, but then he began using his own magic. The fire dulled to a small shadowy corner in the back of his mind, and he soon felt lighter than he had this whole day.

“FRED!” Velma hissed.

With his maul at the ready, caked in blood and dirt, Fred sighed again. “They know where we are,” he began his answer. “There is no longer any fault with trying our absolute best, no quarter given.” His allies nodded, and began looking for their own weapons. With seconds to spare, they soon found them.

Velma began charging her bow with energy; enough that the bowstring started to glow with power. Effortlessly, she brought a hand to the strung and drew back… an arrow of pure energy materialized, ready to fly straight and true. Daphne, stave in hand, began outputting so much energy that the very air around the tip of the weapon seemed to densify. The stave exuded so much power, that Fred felt as he could reach out and physically touch it.

No time for that though. The trio of light beams finally reached its target… Daphne, Fred, and Velma. The dirt, a few units away, exploded from the impact of the light, and prevented Fred from fully identifying the pursuers for a moment. That moment soon passed however, and a trio of women appeared - standing proud, fierce, and clear in front of Fred.

There was one woman standing slightly ahead of the other two, whom were at her flanks. The frontmost one was tall and had bright, almost glowing, orange hair. On top of her head stood a large red bow, which was mirrored by her equally red eyes. To the left, stood a slightly shorter women who had almost ethereally perfect blond hair and peaceful blue eyes. Far too peaceful for the aggression that this trio represented. The final women, seemingly the shortest and angriest of the trio, had a scowl marring her otherwise perfect face. Her hair was as black as night, and served to frame a face containing brilliant green eyes.

Fred swallowed. The appearance of these ladies could have not differed from Fred’s battered and bloody appearance more. The scowl on the black haired one was the only hideous thing on these ladies. They all were in the most fantastical dresses, and he knew it was because none of them needed armor. Everything was beautiful, perfect, and a lie. He knew who this trio was… everyone did.

“Powerpuff girls.” He stated. Near him, he heard Velma and Daphne fight to suppress the shaking; unconscious as it was.

The lady in front, the one dressed in red, lifted her hand and gestured the number 3 to Fred. “3 minutes. 3 minutes is all we can spare to play with you.”

“Try to make it fun, will you?” the black haired one added.

Fred said nothing. He only charged forward.


	2. Only the Living Feel Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaggy was able to escape. He suffered horrors and opposition poison to his mind, but he escaped. However, with the final destination in sight, he struggles to not collapse in pain with each step forward. Luckily he only has a few steps to go. 
> 
> Now if only it all hurt less.

**A Cartoon of**  
Betrayal and Strife  
**M.C. Deltat**

**Chapter 2: Only the Living Feel Pain**

His bones ached. The journey forward had not been for the kind-hearted. Although, Shaggy had almost forgotten what a warm heart felt like; His own had been dulled and steeled by the Snack… what remained of his brutalized and broken body felt like a feeble boulder barely enduring an unyielding torrent. The backlash would strike him soon, and soon he would falter to the ground.

Shaggy tried his best to delay his inevitable collapse however. He couldn’t stop just yet. He was entrusted to complete a mission by his friends and he would see it till its end. Regardless of whatever was waiting for him, a joyous or dreadful end, Shaggy owed that much to the job. The satchel at his side would be brought to the king; only after would he allow himself to fall. Until then, he would keep on moving.

Resolute, one of his hands tightened its grip around the shattered remains of his sword. Long since fractured to a quarter of its original size, the sword resembled a dagger more than the hand-and-a-half blade it had once been. The only thing that stayed consistent was the death grip with which Shaggy held onto it. His hand was now numb beyond all belief but he refused to loosen his boney fingers; any less pressure and he feared that he would drop it altogether. It would then fall onto the ground and be lost underneath the rain and mud that blanketed the hinterlands.

“Oh…” Shaggy whispered to himself. “It’s raining.” He had finally become aware of the soft pitter-patter of water upon his body.

Up until the thought of losing his sword, Shaggy had truthfully not noticed the weather. His body already dull to the physical world, hadn’t caught the change in moisture… but that wasn’t the main reason for his ignorance. No, the main reason was the fact that he was already covered in blood and mud and filth. How much of it was his own, he honestly couldn’t say. Either way, a little more fluid wouldn’t change much. The battle had been brutal and the costs had been high. The only evidence of the fight was in a bloody sack that rested at his side, next to the satchel Fred had given him.

“Zoinks,” Shaggy cried out as his mount almost tripped in the middle of a long sprint.

Upon second thought, and after a sorrowful glance at his battle companion, Shaggy realized that the bloody sack wasn’t just the only evidence of the great battle. The duel, along with the snack taken beforehand, had not been kind to the beast.

“The castle is close Scoob,” Shaggy whispered. They had just began descending a hill which finally brought the city into view. Destination dead ahead, Shaggy brought his head down close to the torn ears of his wolf’s lacerated head. Regretfully, Scooby was in a much worse condition than Shaggy was. The wolf had been the mount on this long chase through the forest and had borne the brunt of the damage from the many demons encountered. His fur was filthy and clotted with blood. Indeed, in some places, Shaggy almost thought that he could see exposed musculature peeking out from the wolf’s hide.

Then again, Shaggy’s own body was starting to falling apart as well. Who knew what he was seeing? In any case, there was a much more obvious way to tell the damage that Scooby had. Much like Shaggy, there was a tenseness evident in the wolf’s body. Each footprint seemed to echo a pulse of agony throughout the dog’s body, resulting in a clear, depressing shudder. Somehow, however, the wolf was able to continue his pace. Despite the pain that was clear and obvious to Shaggy, Scooby refused to stop. The dog seemed intent on using that very pain to delay the collapse that was guarantee to occur soon. Almost as a student might use pain to prevent sleep in a particularly boring class.

His effort was rewarded however, and the castle in the distance soon grew closer. Shaggy refused to lower his guard though. One hand stayed firmly on his blade while the other stayed firmly on Scooby’s reigns. Death had narrowly missed them before, and Shaggy would damn himself to Hell before allowing their task to fail this close to the end.

“HALT!” a loud shout came from beyond the ramparts. “NO FURTHER”.

Evidently, the guards on duty were no less vigilant than he was. Scooby scoffed. What did the watchful gaze of these sentries, in this dull rainy night, reward them with? A bloodied ranger on an even more bloodied wolf. Shaggy’s armor was long gone, and the remaining undergarments were held together with nothing more than faith. The men on the walls either thought that Shaggy was an undead specter with work still to do on this mortal plane, or that he was the worst spy in existence. 

Shaggy had no time left to delay his entry to the castle though; The crash would be coming soon.

Bringing his fractured sword forward, Shaggy ordered Scooby onwards, “Up and over Scoob!”

Scooby woofed an affirmative back at him. The huff was cloaked in pain, but the dog charged true.

A few units ahead, on top of the ramparts, Scooby could no longer hear shouts for him to stop – he heard orders to notch arrows instead. “Alright then… Bring it” Shaggy muttered.

As if to accept his challenge, arrows soon began their flight towards the pair. Feeling the last traces of energy provided by the snack beginning to fade away, Shaggy did a quick flourish of his blade and tried his best to focus. Luckily, he still had it in him to track each arrow’s trajectory. Shaggy unhitched his feet from the stirrups, and promptly leaped up onto his mount into a standing position. He then carefully shifted his stance and waited for the arrow rain to slam into him.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Desperately, Shaggy’s fractured blade intercepted each arrow that came remotely close to injuring Scooby. Frantic overextensions and overreached arms resulted in Scooby being largely safe from hits, but unfortunately led to Shaggy getting slashed all over his person. He still had enough awareness to not get fully pierced, but what few rags left on his body, were soon laced with long lacerations. Luckily, depending on your definition of the term anyway, Shaggy was so overloaded with pain already that these ‘scratches’ did nothing to disturb him from his focus. After all, a few extra branches make no difference when the forest is already on fire. If there was any positive, as Scooby deflected another round of projectiles, he was pretty sure that the archers were dumbstruck for a moment. They had completely stopped firing, giving him a respite, at least until the commissar ordered them to let loose once more. That next wave, however, was more frantically released; a distinct lack of confidence during the aim. Shaggy had less trouble deflecting those. And, he continued his parrying, almost lost in a trance, until a huff from Scooby brought him back to the world. Refocusing, Shaggy noticed how close they were to the castle walls, and dropped back down into a sitting position; his reach with a blade would be lesser, but he would rather not fall off Scoob as he started scaling the walls.

Unknowing of the challenge he gave his ranger, Scoob decided that he was now close enough to the ramparts. With what remained of his energy, he made a prodigious leap and went almost vertical as he landed on the stone cobble that made up the city fortifications. The impact made him howl in pain but his claws bit into the rock never-the-less.

The archers responded in fear… fear from the howl and fear from the beast now hitched to the wall. Arrows soon fell upon them with a renewed vigor. Shaggy tried to do his best to deflect them all, but his arms, and blade, were failing him. More and more micro-scars formed on both man and beast as Scooby did his best to charge up the wall. As with Shaggy, the addition pain meant nothing to him; everything already hurt and he was moments away from total collapse anyway.

Quicker than the guards probably thought was possible, Scooby finished scaling the wall and crawled onto the ramparts. Faced with a massive blood red wolf, the guards found themselves once more surprised that Scooby continued his journey and leapt back down onto the interior of the city.

“So close Scoob,” Shaggy begged. “Only a little further, and you can sleep.” Shaggy watched as they fell back to the ground. He was so close to completing the mission; he would not have let Daphne and Velma and Fred down. He would see them again … “ZOINKS!”. Shaggy shouted. A rogue arrow that had followed them down the wall had hit him right in the hand. Whether on purpose or on accident, Shaggy’s grip finally faltered and his sword flew away from him. Before he could fully process what happened, Scooby impacted onto the ground in a fantastic slam. The very earth shook as it bore the brunt of the massive wolf losing all momentum to the dirt and gravel below.

And it was with that impact, that Scooby had finally lost all the will, all the nerve to keep moving. With a loss of driving purpose or goal, and with the pain finally overwhelming him, Scooby’s eyes gently fluttered closed - His mind went blank, and his legs went limp. The wolf’s massive body tipped over his legs and collapsed. Fully laying down on the ground, Scooby fell into a deep sleep; unaware to the world and all its dangers.

Joining Scooby on the ground was Shaggy, who had collapsed with his wolf. He was still hooked into the saddle when Scooby faltered, and he had joined his partner in his journey to soil. The fall had been an abnormal one; that type of fall that almost seemed to last far longer than it had any right too. It was during that fall, that Scooby found a shocking amount of time to think. He thought of the initial mission to the Professor’s Castle, the discovery of the Powerpuff girls, the crew’s escape, and their subsequent split-up.

“DON’T MOVE”

The shouts surrounding Shaggy brought him back to attention yet again. He blinked a few times to refocus his gaze past the pain and found himself, along with Scooby, completely surrounded by spear wielding guardsmen. Noticing that the pointy ends of the weapons where directed right at the intruding pairs, Shaggy could only sigh. “I’m so tired.” Releasing his legs from Scooby’s saddle once more, Shaggy collapsed onto the ground like a sack of grain. It was as he coughed the dust out of his face, that he once again heard orders shouted from the guards.

“DON’T MOVE. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!” The spearmen shouted.

Moaning in pain, Shaggy didn’t have to try hard to obey. He merely stayed on the floor, a pile of a human; His head alone seemed heavy enough to pin him to the ground. And it was as he struggled to listen to whatever demands may come next, he found himself fighting to suppress the constant jittering his limbs were trapped in.

“Officer, inspect his person. Is there any danger?”

Shaggy felt as if the voice was familiar. Didn’t matter though., he couldn’t lift his head to check. He merely laid on the ground, and felt as a man’s hands half-heartedly looked for weapons. The hands groped most of Shaggy’s body but luckily missed the two satchels that had been on his person. When Shaggy had collapsed, he had fallen on top of them, and apparently, being covered in inexplicable fluids deterred a thorough search.

Eventually, those hands retreated. Nothing of true substance had been found, but Shaggy already knew that would happen. His fractured blade had been the only weapon left after his journey and even that was gone now. Shaggy vaguely sensed as footsteps left his general vicinity and headed back to the position of the spearmen, still at guard. There were a few moments of muttering - Shaggy assumed the guard was informing the others of his lack of threat.

How that wasn’t obvious already was beyond him.

“You are cleared to stand. Present yourself.” Ordered that same familiar voice.

Shaggy could only moan in response. With great effort, and pain, Shaggy slowly propped his hands underneath him and pushed up. As shakes threating to overwhelm his person, Shaggy carefully shuddered his body weight onto his knees. Then he pivoted his weight to his legs and dragged himself up. 

Shaggy couldn’t help but wonder what he must look like to the spearman. An addled drug addicted monster of a man? Were it not for the shakes, Shaggy suspects that he would look quite intimidating otherwise. The quivering knees alone, unfortunately, distracted away from his ultra-defined muscles and intensely angular face.

Also, the fact that he could barely stand up, with his hands resting on his knees, and he looked as if a stiff breeze could topple him over.

“Report yourself so that we may accurately arrest you.” The leader said. He paused for a moment, looked side to side, and then continued. “The captain will be here momentarily, at which point we will promptly bring you in to the magistrate.” His helmeted face made it difficult to identify the person, despite the familiar voice.

Shaggy felt shudders beginning to get worse. The crash already hit Scooby and it was about to hit him too.

“Say, are you alright?” The guard suddenly decided to care; or perhaps it was out of fear. “Maybe a trip to a medic first…” He muttered.

There was no response that Shaggy could make; serious or snarky. His body had decided that it was time to purge. With no ability to resist, Shaggy suddenly felt his body rebel against him. His quivering knees finally failed and he collapsed to the ground. He caught himself with his hands before his head smashed into the ground, luckily, but that didn’t stop the coming torrent. Vomit starting expelling out of his mouth… At least Shaggy thought it was mostly vomit; There was a fair bit of blood in there too. Regardless, Shaggy mouth continued purging for quite some time. Could have been hours for how unbearable the experience was.

Eventually though, his body decided that there were no further fluids left to send out. Scared that he would fall flat onto his face, he pivoted his body and instead collapsed onto Scooby. At this point, the wolf’s form had already reverted to his pre-snack form: His fur was no longer red. His teeth had shrunken to a more reasonable length. His ears had fallen back down from their alert stance. His body slowly morphed away from the monstrous apex predator form he had while under the influence and back to that of a friendly faithful companion.

And based on the suddenly shift of atmosphere among the guards, one of awe instead of readiness, Shaggy’s form must have begun to revert as well. Not that Shaggy needed the hint though. It was fairly obvious when the shift happened. It felt as if every piece of his body was being manually hammered into a new form by the gods themselves. And it seemed like the guards could tell his agony because they were content to watch in silence.

The pain continued until the process must have completed because one of the guards felt brave. “Are… are you okay?” a whispered entered the air.

Shaggy ceased gritting his teeth upon hearing the question. Carefully controlling his jaw so as to not cry out in pain, he answered the question. “No.” He bit out. “No, I am pretty far from alright.”

“It’s nothing you haven’t dealt with before slayer.” A new voice commented

Shaggy couldn’t bear the pain to pivot his head, but he luckily didn’t have to. Another guard announced the new arrival.

“CAPTAIN ON FIELD.” Someone in the back shouted. “ATTENTION.”

“At ease.” The captain responded. “Now what do we have here?”

“Uh, I don’t know sir; a sellsword perhaps? But before collapsing, he ran right through the fortification and its guards like it was barely an inconvenience.”

“The question was rhetorical first lieutenant.” The Captain chided. “I know exactly who this is.”

As best as Shaggy could tell, the newly announced man, began to approach. His instincts proved correct when an imposing figure entered his limited frame of view.

“Hector the Bulldog.” Shaggy groaned out.

“The very same,” Hector agreed. He approached Shaggy’s collapsed form, barely elevated due to resting on top of Scooby. And as he knelt down to Shaggy’s eye level, he continued. “I know your name too; Shaggy the Blood Panther.” Not satisfied that Shaggy was struggling to meet his gaze, Hector moved a gauntleted hand to Shaggy’s chin and forced it up.

Shaggy struggled to suppress the pain caused by the forced movement. He wasn’t successful.

“Oh, you are damaged.” Hector investigated. “This is worse than any other backlash I’ve seen you in before.” He gazed deeply into Shaggy’s blood-stained eyes. “You took multiple doses, didn’t you?”

The silence was enough of an answer for Hector. He couldn’t help but laugh. 

“I had no choice.” Shaggy couldn’t help but defend himself. “I did…”

“No, Blood Panther” Hector interrupted. “You always have a choice. You always had a choice. And it has always been your choice to ignore the possibilities of the road not taken.” A frown was on Hector’s face now; one that implied a lot.

Shaggy said nothing. He had nothing to say.

“Anyway, what are you doing in my city?” Hector interrogated.

Despite the pain. Shaggy forced himself to answer. “I have information for your King.” Shaggy spoke in harsh breathes. “I have found something that needs to be brought to his attention.”

Hector’s face returned to a smile. “Oh, I know. I imagine it has something to do with those bags you have been hiding?”

“Wait, What?” Shaggy yelled. The rage dulled the pain somewhat.

“Yes. I was testing to see if your remembered yourself. If hadn’t yet burned whatever was left in your head away.” Hector paused in mocking introspection. “It would seem not just yet.”

“And why, pray tell, did your guards assail me if you knew I was coming?” Shaggy hissed.

Waving the matter away, Hector casually dismissed the fury radiating from Shaggy. “Oh, that’s easy; Because I hate you.”

Shaggy tried to say something else, but it was at this point, the pain throughout his body refused to be ignored any longer. Hector noticed, and pulled his hand away, allowing Shaggy to double over in shock.

Hector watched Shaggy struggle for a few moments before deciding that he had more important things to do. It was time to move this along. “Well, as we both know, you have a mission report to deliver.” Hector turned around to address the guards. “Disperse. This man is cleared to be here.”

“Uh, I’ll get the medic to help him.” One of the guards stammered.

“Denied.” Hector ordered. Turning back to Shaggy, Hector continued. “He can deal with the repercussions of his actions.” Hector paused. “Or not. He can die too. I don’t know of anyone who’s gone this far before. Either way, his decision.”

Deciding that he heard enough, Shaggy once again fought back the pain. He first forced his head back up to gaze at Hector. It wasn’t quite a sneer on his face, but he certainly had some element of disgust on his visage. Continuing on, Shaggy slowly forced himself, once again, up to his feet. It took a while, but he eventually succeeded. When he looked back at Hector, he found a smirk that mirrored his own.

“I’ll make sure Scooby is fine.” Hector offered.

Shaggy only nodded and began walking towards the center of the city, the big castle his destination. Behind him, he could hear Hector’s shouted orders demanding aid for the fallen wolf. Scooby would be fine; that much he was sure of. Shaggy moved onwards, resolute.

There weren’t many people out and about. Indeed, as Shaggy walked alone down the main path, the city felt strangely empty. The current downpour was probably the cause for that though. He couldn’t feel anything beyond a faint chill. After his journey in the forest, Shaggy wouldn’t be surprised if he was covered in fluid all over his body. The weather was probably doing him a favor by washing him thoroughly before his meeting with the king.

“What’s wrong with that man Mommy?” whispered a stranger in the distance.

Shaggy unconsciously moved his head to the source of the sound. In the distance, was a mother in the process of scolding her child for being rude. At least she was until she noticed Shaggy’s gaze. With a noticeable pause, she roughly grabbed her son’s arm and pulled him away. Soon both mother and child were hidden from his view.

Shaggy sighed; it seemed like the rain could only help so much. Bending over to look into a puddle, and frankly, Shaggy himself was a little scared. Yes, the rain would not help much. Now if only Shaggy could find it in himself to care. The most prominent dominate thing on his mind was the massive mind-numbing pain still thumping throughout his being. It had begun to dull slightly as he moved on; as Hector had implied… he had taken Snack before, but never to this level. He’d get through it though.

“Ha.” Shaggy chuckled and then promptly recoiled from the resulting pain. Despite the aches, he couldn’t help but laugh. With enough lies, perhaps he would fool himself into believing them – maybe the pain would go away. Until then, he would struggle forward – through all the creeps and aches and pains.

…

Shaggy kept moving forward and slowly, the castle grew larger. He had never fully appreciated the distance between the walls and the castle before. Although, when every step echoes of agony, you tend to count the seconds more rigorously. A journey of a thousand steps and a journey of ten steps both start with a single step after all.

…

It’s quiet. Despite the constant pitter-patter of the rain, Shaggy hasn’t had such a moment of tranquility in a great many days. And even with the loud throbbing in his head, He found it easier to think now than he had even just a few days ago. The sights he had seen in the Professor’s Castle… those horrors get burned into a man’s head. It doesn’t leave, not without certain extreme options. Those shadows of terror would last longer than most of the damage caused by the Scooby snacks he had ingested.

“HALT,” a guard ordered.

“Oh.” Shaggy muttered. He had lost himself in thought on the way. Refocusing on his immediate surroundings, it became apparent that he had completed his walk to the castle. It was a grand piece of architecture. The front was stylized with depictions of grand battles being fought by statues that would never see peace; endlessly trapped in a single moment before victory and defeat. Supported by great columns and buttresses, Shaggy couldn’t help but marvel at the scale of it all. In awe, Shaggy stood in front of yet another guard station; this time right in-front of a prodigious set of double doors that would no doubt be a challenge for just one person to open. For Shaggy’s journey to reach its end however, they must be opened. Except here Shaggy was, listening to yet another guard ordering him to halt; Shaggy could only sigh. “This again?”

“The King and Queen are currently in court.” The guard looked Shaggy up and down. “And you aren’t in proper attire.”

Shaggy’s hand started twitching – and for the first time today, it wasn’t due to pain. “I promise you; I am meant to be in there.” He almost reached out his hand to grab the guard but held back. “Furthermore, I promise you that I am not in the mood for this. Hector already saw and cleared me.”

The guard’s unamused face said more than words could. “Right… Well, surely you would have proof of this supposed clearing.”

Shaggy’s hands automatically went to his satchels and began blindly grasping. “Surely me getting this fair is proof in itself?” As Shaggy’s hand felt around the satchel, he couldn’t help but wonder if the bag was always open. He was sure that it had been sealed when Fred had given it to him. 

“Call me rigorous.” The Guard admitted. He watched as Shaggy dug through his bags before added an extra comment. “You know, even if you do succeed in pulling something out of your ass, you are so far beyond the line impropriety, I should have you arrested for public indecency.”

“Hey do me a favor,” Shaggy began, “Shut it”. Shaggy’s hand paused around something unfamiliar in his bag; something that didn’t belong. He slowly pulled it out and looked at it himself.

“What’s that? Found your Doctor’s note?” the guard asked.

Shaggy didn’t respond to him at first. Instead, he muttered under his breath. “Ha. You jackass dog.” Shaggy turned his gaze back to the guard and with a big cocky smile, handed over the tablet. “Here is your damn pass. Credits of the Dog himself.”

The guard looked almost skeptical. Seeing that Shaggy wouldn’t relent, he hesitantly reached a hand out; cautious to not blight himself with the filth currently dripping off Shaggy. As he pulled the tablet back, he couldn’t help but eye the pair of satchels at Shaggy’s side. “So uh, that came from the bag not dripping with blood, right?”

“Quit your staling. Read the thing.” Shaggy demanded.

The guard acquiesced and began reading out loud. “With the power given to me by the lord and lady of this land, blah blah blah, Holder of this pass _Shaggy the Blood Panther_ is allowed access to the interior courts with no restrictions.”

Shaggy’s grin stayed on his face. Even despite the pain still pulsating throughout his body, it started large and bright. “Well?” He teased as he gestured towards the door. “Get to it.”

“Well, uh, I don’t, oof.” The guard stammered. “Even if you have permission,” He gazed once more to Shaggy’s blighted state, “I don’t think it would be proper to…”

“Ya, ya” Shaggy interrupted. “Luckily the pass is quite clear and what you think doesn’t matter.” Rudely grabbing the pass back from the guard, Shaggy used the opportunity to also lean in close. With the smell of blood and necrotic flesh infiltrating the guard’s nostrils, Shaggy once again repeated his demand. “OPEN. THE. DOOR.”

The guard deeply exhaled. “Alright. Just… Alright.” The guard walked over to the door and knocked on it 5 times- 3 break 2. “Open it up. Executive guest coming in” He then walked back to his outpost and sat; content that his role was done and he could go back to lazing the day away.

“All right Hector. You wanted a show… I’ll give you a show” Shaggy whispered to himself.

Some loud clinking noises echoed, even through the doors. Shaggy suspected that the men on the other side of the door were undoing locks. After a few moments, it went silent… and then, the doors began to creak open. From the inside out, the doors were pushed open by a team of guards.

Shaggy didn’t wait till the doors where completely open. Nor did he hesitate when the guards busy pushing the door reacted to the sight and smell of him. Man on a mission, he walked right through foyer, past the reception hall, and beyond the gallery - ignoring every single piece of extravagant art displayed. So close to his goal, he subconsciously sped up as he saw the doors leading to the Grand hall. Approaching those double doors, he slowly reached out his hands and touched them, but he did not yet push them open. First, he took a deep breath. And another one. And then one more just for luck.

“Alright.” Shaggy whispered. “Here we go.”

Shaggy pushed the doors open as hard as he could. Every bit of energy he had, went into making those doors move out of his way as fast, and as loud, as possible. Slamming open, the doors didn’t disappoint. Using the pain caused by the exertion, Shaggy screamed as loudly as possible. “I DEMAND A VIEWING WITH KING BUGS.”

He looked around. The Grand Hall did not disappoint its name. The art he ignored as he paced through the gallery must be whatever pieces that didn’t reach the high bar of ostentation demanded by this room. Frankly speaking, Shaggy had never seen so much marble and gold in one place before. Unless he came back, he likely would never see such a wonder again. Averting his gaze, he noticed the full room of courtiers lining up against both sides of the room; packing so tightly there was no doubt in Shaggy’s mind that it was terribly uncomfortable. As the guard from earlier told him, King Bugs was busy holding court. He was currently being attended to by said courtiers as they dealt with whatever issue was being brought up by the man currently bowing on the opposite side of the Grand Hall. In front of that man, were a twin set of massive, majestic, detailed thrones. On one sat an unamused King Bugs. Flanking to his right was the other throne, which had Queen Lola sitting upon it. And to King Bugs’ left, stood the chief advisor to the king, Lord Magistrate Daffy Duck.

Based on the many mouths opened in shock and awe, they had been in the middle of something; likely with a great many amount of people yelling their, probably, worthless opinions. Shaggy couldn’t help himself. “I’m sorry. Have I interrupted something?” He could swear he saw a smile on Queen Lola’s face, but he couldn’t say for sure. Not when Magistrate Daffy decided to dramatically become the new center of attention. 

To be honest, Daffy’s reaction was almost comical at first. He opened his mouth to yell, but no words came out. It was almost as if his outrage robbed him of the capacity to speak. To make it a little worse, it took him a few moments of gasping silently before he noticed that he was saying nothing of any meaning. Whether it was due to the room heavy with silence, or the many courtiers struggling their best to suppress laughter, Daffy became aware enough to pause in his mute squawking. 

That smile on Queen Lola’s face was a little more evident. Bugs’ face was more difficult to parse.

As dignified as he could appear, Daffy tried to recollect himself. He eventually got close enough and then promptly started to shout. “PALACE GUARDS!”

The silence in the Grand Hall was soon violently replaced by the sound of steel rubbing against steel. Knights, who were formally standing at guard, unsheathed their blades and rushed to challenge Shaggy. None launched an attack just yet, but they were all on a knife’s edge.

Shaggy stood calmy as half a dozen armored knights postured aggressively in-front of him. Faced with 6 swords invading his personal space, Shaggy decided that being direct would probably be the best option here. Although, all things considered, the pain added by six stab wounds would honestly be fairly trivial compared to what he had been dealing with already; Better to not add fuel to the fire though. “I am Shaggy, representative of the Mystery Crew. I come bearing tidings of treachery.”

“You could be the One and True King of these lands, for all I care.” Daffy jeered. “Guards, execute this man.”

Shaggy watched as the guards each took a step forward. He wasn’t worried; King Bugs seemed interested.

“No no. Stand down.” King Bugs dismissingly waved his hand. Resting his head on his hands, King Buggs leaned forward and asked, “Shaggy? Shaggy the Blood Panther?”

Shaggy only nodded.

Bugs nodded in return. “Well, you should have started with that.” He looked over to Lola, “I hired the Blood Panther for a job, not whomever this ‘Mystery Crew’ is.” He turned his head back to Shaggy. “You speak of the existence of treachery? Well, I am always in a mood for good stories, and you, I would think,” Bugs paused as gazed at Shaggy’s rugged appearance, “appear to have a good one for me. Guards stand down. Let the man speak.”

The knights put their swords away, but made no effort to move from their spots. Shaggy, not caring, said his piece. “Just a week ago, my compatriots and I infiltrated the castle of the Professor. It was in there that we discovered plans of an invasion.”

Bugs held a hand up, which caused Shaggy to pause his story. “Why are you the only one here? Where are these compatriots of yours?” Bugs asked. Shaggy looked more tired after hearing the question.

Shaggy shrugged. “I don’t know. During our escape we split up.” Shaggy glanced side to side at the courters in the hall. “I don’t suppose some new guests joined you before I did?” He asked hopeful. 

Lola’s frowning was enough to answer to his question.

Before Shaggy could continue his story, Bugs decided he had one more question. “And why did you split up.”

“We found truth. The powers that where did not appreciate that. We were pursued as we fled here.’

“Pursed by whom?” Bugs inquired.

“The Professor’s very own and very best. The Powerpuff girls themselves were sent to deal with us.” Shaggy answered.

“Truly?” Bugs leaned back into his throne. “How incredible. You must have discovered something massive for the Professor to send his very best after you… that is, if you are telling the truth.” Bugs challenged.

“Oh, I have proof.” Shaggy commented noncommittally. “I definitely have proof.”

“Ah.” Bugs tried, but couldn’t suppress the amusement in his voice. “Well? Go ahead.”

Smile on his face, Shaggy’s hand reached down to one of the bags at his side – the bloody one. To the credit of the guards, they didn’t react as the obviously wet bag was unclipped and brought up to Shaggy’s chest level. He tossed it up and down a few times, before tossing it past the guards into the empty space a little short of the King and Queen. The bag rolled a few times before a red object escaped from its confines. 

Out of the bag, rolled the bloody severed head of Princess Morbucks.

Panic exploded in the Grand Hall as the courtiers could barely contain themselves. On the floor of the Grand Hall, was the head of one of the most powerful, ranking members of the Professor’s dominion.

Bugs’ head was frozen as its gaze was locked onto the Princess’ head. The cacophony in the hall was deafening, but Bug’s face was almost tranquil, as if he was trapped in his own world. Eventually, Queen Lola leaned over and brought her head to King Bugs’ ear. Presumably she said something, because after a few moments, King Bugs nodded and Lola relaxed back into her throne.

King Bugs’ resolved himself and cut his focus on the head. “I want everyone except the Queen and The Blood Panther to vacate the Grand Hall. Now.” The command was just barely above a whisper, and yet it pierced right through the audible pandemonium. The noise silenced immediately; the shift itself was heavy on a person. But no one moved, not right away.

“My liege…” Daffy hesitated, “Are you sure…” he began.

Daffy didn’t finished the question. He was interrupted by an intense glare from his King. Nothing was said, but Daffy understood. “EVERYONE OUT!” Daffy shouted.

Slowly, everyone shuffled away. They tried not to make it obvious but they each gave the severed head, and Shaggy, a wide berth.

They failed. It was very obvious.

Once all the courtiers and the knights and the common folk had departed, Daffy moved to take his leave as well. He first bowed to the King and Queen, and left; not once ceasing a glare at Shaggy.

Finally isolated in the Grand hall, Bugs took a deep breathe. “Approach closer Blood Panther.”

“Its just Shaggy.” He mumbled.

“If you so desire.” Lola spoke up. “And if you wouldn’t mind, kick the head to the other side of the hall. I’ve gotten the point and I no longer need to see it.” She requested.

Shaggy began his approach from his end of the hall towards the King and Queen. Once he reached the severed head, he kicked it to the back and took its spot. He then waited in silence for Bugs to speak once more. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Now that we are alone, please,” Bugs ordered, “What did you learn that caused the Professor to send his number 4 after you?”

Shaggy said nothing. He slightly swayed side to side as he offered the King and Queen his remaining satchel.

“If possible, just tell us the story yourself,” Lola requested, “Start closer to the beginning.”

Shaggy exhaled, dropped the satchel to the floor, and turned his head. He stared at a corner for a few seconds before catching himself. Refocusing onto the King and Queen, he began. “We infiltrated the Professor’s castle a few weeks ago. To be honest, at first, we weren’t quite sure what we were looking for. So, we just explored the fortress as best as we could; as quietly as we could too. And what we found…” Shaggy paused.

“Shaggy?” Lola asked.

Shaggy shook his head and finished his thought. “He found horror. So much more pain and anguish than a rational person could conceive of existing in a single place, in a single moment of time.”

“In what manner of speaking?” Bugs inquired. “Was the Professor just mindlessly inflicting pain upon his people?”

“No.” Shaggy answered. “It wasn’t mindless. It was with purpose. That makes it worse. Someone who tortures for fun will eventually get bored and move on. Someone who has a goal, well, they don’t stop until said goal is reached.”

“And what was the goal?”

“At first we didn’t know. And I’ll tell you that filled me with fear. The castle was full of countless experiments; people devolved to nothing more than failed trials.” Shaggy paused to take a deep breath before continuing his story. “Eventually though, Fred, Leader of the Mystery Crew,” Shaggy clarified upon seeing the faces on the King and Queen, “noticed that the Professor had begun getting actual shipments of slaves, weekly. It almost felt as if he just plain didn’t have enough bodies for whatever hellish plans he had in mind. But we still didn’t know what the actual experiments were. We became determined to find out what those captured souls were being used for.”

“And what did you find?”

“Dread.” Shaggy bit out. “What we found were spiders.”

“Oh.” Lola gasped

“The Fool Spider… Prince Billy’s monsters.” Bugs continued Lola’s thought.

Shaggy nodded. “Indeed. When we found the spiders, we found what these people were being used for.”

“Food?” King Bugs asked.

“For the hatchlings. And those were the lucky ones as far as I could tell. Other victims were the cost too much crueler tasks. Those spiders learned how to keep a victim alive for a long time.”

Bugs kept his blank face. He rubbed his face for a moment in thought, before speaking. “Well, while this is curious indeed, I am not quite sure if the Fool’s spiders being there is enough; not unless eavesdropping suddenly works on beasts.”

“No, I agree that wasn’t enough.” Shaggy concurred. “After learning what all those people were being used for, the entire crew felt committed. We decided to wait for something firmer… and eventually we found it. After waiting through all those obvious atrocities, we finally learned that a guest was due to arrive; and it was a very important guest indeed: The Fool Spider himself.”

“Prince Billy himself arrived to visit the Professor’s castle?” Lola asked. “It wasn’t just his beasts there?”

“Serving as Queen Mandy’s very own representation to an important topic to be discussed with the Professor’s own.” Shaggy confirmed.

“Wait. The Professor’s own? Not the Professor himself?” Bugs inquired.

“I’ll get to that shortly.” Shaggy waved his hand placatingly. “There is still more to tell.” Shaggy assured.

King Bugs nodded and waited.

“As I was saying, we eventually learned that Prince Billy was showing up to discuss something with the Professor.” Shaggy explained. “We did our diligence to find out where that meeting was and how we could get into a position to listen.” Shaggy took a deep breath. “We had to go through the warrens. It was during that journey, that we recognized that regardless of Billy, we already had a problem. The Professor had an army of beast spiders. Eggs on near every single surface in those caves. Worse still, it was Velma’s belief that the Professor would need significantly more humans than they already had to sufficiently feed those beasts.”

“How was she able to tell?” Lola asked. “You made it seem like they were already getting a rather large number of bodies coming in.”

“They were. To be honest, if anything, I may be underrepresenting the number of eggs we saw.” Shaggy explained He decided to not expand and more the story moving though. “Eventually, we made our way to the final destination. We had to be very careful to not alarm the spiders, but we did it; the contents and discussions of the meeting hall were evident to us.”

“What did you hear?” Bugs had to ask.

“Well, to start, Billy was irate.” Shaggy offered.

“The Fool Spider is always irate.” Bugs dismissed. “He hates his role in life… and his place in life.”

“Yes, but this wasn’t due to the spiders.” Shaggy concurred. “The Professor didn’t deem The Fool Prince important enough to award him with his presence. Instead, his second showed up, The Mistress Sara Bellum. She made it a point to explain to the Fool, that the Professor would only join a gathering of equals with those whom he considered his equals; Queen Mandy and nothing less. After a wave of fury from Billy, he eventually relented, as much he could anyway. It was then they spoke of their ultimate plan to invade you my king. Combining their elite forces, a unified special weapons group, they would destroy you and yours.” Shaggy finished.

“Destroy?” Bugs explored. “Would that not be wasteful? They need bodies according to you.”

Shaggy shook his head. “They wanted a different legacy for you. Leaving you alive for longer than necessary, even as food, would only serve as a rallying point. No, no, getting slaves the standard way would be enough for the spiders. Your kingdom, they wish to scar its story away from the lands.”

“We have quite formidable defenses. I suspect it would not be as easy as they wish.” Lola wondered. “Was they plan to simply swarm us?”

“No, it didn’t sound like they would waste the spiders on you. Those are to be saved for more ‘difficult’ positions.” Shaggy enunciated. “Their method here would be subtilty and sabotage.” Shaggy said. “It is with regret that I must say that you have a traitor in your midst. Someone with power and influence, I would expect.”

“Traitors are a dime a dozen. Greed is the most powerful of motivators. Most have considered those thoughts, and plenty act on those thoughts in some manner or another. I have dealt with traitors before.” Bugs commanded.

Before Shaggy could comment, Lola decided to ask something. “So how did you get to the position that Princess Morbucks pursed you? How did your blade get close enough to slay her?” The severed head still captured the Queens attention.

“The team leader called for the group to retreat. I insisted that we wait to learn the identity of the traitor. I suspect that wouldn’t have helped as the pair had begun to move onto different matters. In any case, the call to leave was the correct one… He noticed that some of the eggs had finished gestating and were beginning to hatch.” Shaggy paused as if in remembrance. “We were forced to flee, loudly. I can say with some pride that we culled a significant amount of the beasts as we ran.” Shaggy shrugged. “I imagine that is what caused the Professors rage. He was already behind his benchmarks and we pushed his quotas even further back. As a result, he sent the Powerpuff Girls.” Shaggy pondered for a moment further. “In retrospect, such a display of incompetence more than likely painted himself poorly to Billy. Fool Prince he may be, but he still is Queen Mandy’s most relied upon.

“But you got away?” Lola confirmed more than asked.

“I got away. As we fled. Fred made the decision to split up. I would prioritize making you aware of this development, while my compatriots would divert attention away from me... I am filled with sorrow that they have not yet made it.” Shaggy added as an afterthought.

King Bugs stood up from his throne and slowly walked towards Shaggy. As he approached, he spoke with clear and apparent sympathy. “Your team completed their self-appointed job with diligence. If you are here, there can be no other way. If they survived, then we will find them.” Bugs eventually reached Shaggy and rested a hand on his shoulder. “For now though, we still have something to finish; Repelling invaders.”

Shaggy pushed Bugs arm off his shoulder. “With respect, my part in this story is over. I came to give you a message. The message has been delivered.”

“Would your friends see it that way? After their sacrifice for the cause, would they accept leaving the task half down?” Lola suggested. Shaggy said nothing. Anticipating the silence, Lola continued. “Look at you. Barely standing, barely alive, and you think you are in a position to refuse an offer of cooperation. Stay with us, and we will heal you. In return, you will heal us of this irritation we seem to have.”

Shaggy thought in silence for a few moments. A range of emotions went through his face as he thought about his future. “I want two things.” Shaggy counted them out on his fingers. “First, I want your word that you will assist me in looking for my friends once this matter is dealt with. Second, I want my commission quadrupled.”

“Easily done.” Lola agreed.

“Fantastic.” Bugs sarcastically snarked. “Let’s deal with the matter at hand then. The most important question. When would an attack occur? What date would allow the maximum damage to be committed at minimum risk?” He looked expectantly at Lola.

“My birthday celebration?” Lola hesitated. “Is that not a tad obvious?”

Bugs frowned. “It doesn’t matter if its obvious or not. There are certain duties that must occur on that day; Responsibilities that people of our stature cannot turn away from. They will attack on that day because even if we know of an attack, available resources and ability to respond will be limited regardless of our wants and desires. That is when the deed will be done.” Bugs finished.

“What type of celebration is planned to where you cannot step away from it?” Shaggy asked.

“Large numbers of dignitaries, each representing the surrounding kingdoms have been invited to appear. After introductions have been completed, all persons would be guided to the colosseum for a chariot race hosted by the Wacky Races Troupe. Most of them have already confirmed attendance and some are already in the midst of travel. To rescind the invitation now would be a grievous offense; a cost not worth it.”

“Over your queen’s life” Shaggy asked.

“Over my own life.” Bugs confirmed. Shaggy said nothing. “In any case, I suspect that Mandy and The Professor would not be so brazen to attack a place with so many dignitaries. They would not just be insulting my own reputation but also that of Kings and Queens beyond my sphere.”

“Well perhaps that is the trick then?” Lola pondered. “While everyone’s attention is on the races, a freedom to act without a watchful eye is generated. Maybe they intend to assail other targets? Ones that will no doubt be understaffed due to diverting the guard away.” She looked at Bugs.

“The Laboratory then.” Bugs answered. “My chief researchers, Dexter and Mandark, have informed me that they have made headway on something truly special. If there is any target as valuable as my life, it is that.” He assured.

“If we know hostiles will be in the city, we can put out eyes to watch for them.” Lola added. “Without the shroud of ignominy over them, it should be trivial to discover their staging ground.”

“If it is that trivial, why don’t we apprehend them now? Why wait?” Shaggy pondered.

“We would only capture the low-level bodies they have maintaining the positions if we went before the races. I suspect that to get into the Labs, they would require a higher sort of skill; skill that they would keep away as long as possible. No, we will wait just before they are ready to strike.” Bugs turned back to Lola. “But you need to make sure that we do in-fact find them. Else all this talk is purely theoretical.”

“Indeed.” Lola agreed.

“Hold on.” Shaggy waved for attention. “This is all fantastic but we are basing this over an assumption that no danger will be present for the two of you. Even if they do not siege the colosseum with spiders, they are plenty of less obvious methods of subterfuge. A single shade with a short sword would be enough. In and out, and with the distraction of the races none would be the wiser.”

“I cannot suddenly appear in a celebration dressed to the nines in Warmaster armor.” Bugs frowned. “Whomever would be watching, and someone will be watching, would immediately know that we made preparations.”

“They already know that you are making preparations.” Shaggy gripped. “I am alive while she,” Shaggy pointed to the severed head in the back, “is dead. They would have to be morons of the highest order to believe that nothing would be amended on the day of action.”

“It makes a difference to our own efforts. If we cannot be bothered to even hide the subtleties of the overt part of this operation, they will be all the more aware to the existence of our own cloak and dagger.” Bugs explained.

“Well, what would you suggest then. How would you protect your life without making it so ‘obvious’ as to raise awareness?” Shaggy mocked.

“Raising awareness is fine, but it just has to be directed in the correct manner and tone.” Lola pondered out loud.

“What?” Bugs and Shaggy asked together. 

Lola smiled at their reaction. “If I may, I believe that I have an idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> M.C. Deltat here. CHAPTER 2 LETS GO! This felt like a faster write up, but that was probably because of no combat scenes. If you miss that, dont worry, it will be coming soon. Thanks for reading, and I hope to not take long for the next update.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello All! Its been a long while since I posted something Sorry about that! Work has been piling up, and truthfully, I find it hard to find the drive to write after a long day's grind. Anyway, This story is something new I decided to try: Its a Game of Thrones style adaptation of the Hanna Barbera/Cartoon Network IP. I will be using those wacky/fun characters and making them do murderous schemes of betrayal and combat. SOUNDS FUN. Hope you are as interested in the conflict as I am.


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